The shield of the Eternal

“O God the Lord, the strength of my salvation, thou hast covered my head in the day of battle.”

When he looked back upon past dangers and deliverances, the good man felt that he should have perished had not the Lord held a shield over his head. In the day of the clash of arms, or of putting on of armor (as some read it), the glorious Lord had been his constant protector. Goliath had his armor-bearer, and so had Saul, and these each one guarded his master; yet the giant and the king both perished, while David, without armor or shield, slew the giant and baffled the tyrant.

The shield of the Eternal is better protection than a helmet of brass. When arrows fly thick and the battle-axe crashes right and left, there is no covering for the head like the power of the Almighty. See how the Child of providence glorifies his Preserver! He calls him not only his salvation, but the strength of it, by whose unrivaled force he had been enabled to outlive the cunning and cruelty of his adversaries. He had obtained a deliverance in which the strength of the Omnipotent was clearly to be seen. This is a grand utterance of praise, a gracious ground of comfort, a prevalent argument in prayer. He that has covered our head aforetime will not now desert us. Wherefore let us fight a good fight, and fear no deadly wound: the Lord God is our shield, and our exceeding great reward.

From The Treasury of David, exposition of Psalm 140:7 . Image by under Creative Commons License.